Title: Exploring the educational impact of diverse technologies in online virtual museums

Authors: Stella Sylaiou; Katerina Mania; Ioannis Paliokas; Laia Pujol-Tost; Vassilis Killintzis; Fotis Liarokapis

Addresses: School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Greece ' Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece ' Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain ' Laboratory of Medical Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece ' Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract: This research explores the learning outcomes of online virtual museums employing diverse technologies such as images, videos, 3D reconstructions, etc. It presents the selection criteria (imageability, interactivity, navigability, personalisation, communication) of the five online virtual museums (VMs) involved in the analysis, each of which brings forward a prominent visualisation technology. Then, it describes the methodology of the evaluation process, in which a group of 164 (n = 164) participants, after exploration of the virtual museum websites, answered a self-administered questionnaire including 12 questions based on the concept of generic learning outcomes: a) knowledge and understanding; b) skills; c) change in attitude and values; d) enjoyment, inspiration and creativity; e) action, behaviour and progression. The results of a statistical analysis investigating the educational impact of each VM are analysed. The potential educational advantage of incorporating complex 3D reconstructions in a VM is questioned. A new methodology for analysing VMs is required. This paper contributes to the understanding of the educational impact of VMs in relation to their underlying technology and human computer interaction (HCI) features. Therefore, conclusions have a wider impact and can be generalised to be relevant even after design changes of the VMs selected for the evaluation.

Keywords: virtual museums; educational impact; generic learning outcomes; GLO.

DOI: 10.1504/IJART.2017.083907

International Journal of Arts and Technology, 2017 Vol.10 No.1, pp.58 - 84

Received: 06 Jan 2016
Accepted: 13 May 2016
Published online: 26 Apr 2017 *

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